An Idaho teenager with autism who was hospitalized for a week after being shot by police died over the weekend.
The Bannock County Coroner’s Office confirmed to the Idaho Statesman that Victor Perez, who was physically impaired, died after four officers from the Pocatello Police Department shot him several times outside his home last week.
His family took him off of life support Saturday after testing showed he didn’t have any brain activity, The Associated Press reported. He was 17. The Bannock County Coroner is expected to perform an autopsy.
“Those police broke our family,” his aunt, Ana Vasquez, told the AP. “There is no way to explain the pain that we are feeling right now. It’s like our hearts are kind of empty — it’s not full anymore.”
The shooting has sparked outrage in the eastern Idaho city after video footage circulated on social media, and showed four officers opening fire on Victor behind a fence. The incident began a little before 5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 5, after a neighbor called 911 to report a man wielding a knife in the yard of a Pocatello home. Within 20 seconds of arriving, the four officers opened fire, striking the male, later identified as 17-year-old Victor.
Video footage of the shooting taken by the neighbor showed the four officers get out of their vehicles, draw their guns, line up behind the yard’s chain link fence — which was between them and the teen — and yell at him to drop his weapon.
Victor began to stand up as the officers approached the yard, but before he could take more than two steps toward them, they fired their guns.
Victor’s family told the AP that barely any of the officers spoke to nearby family members before firing. The neighbor on the 911 call said Victor looked intoxicated. If police had stopped to ask a question, they would have learned that he wasn’t intoxicated but instead staggering because of his cerebral palsy, his aunt said.
“Everybody was trying to tell the police, ‘No, no,’” Vazquez told the AP. “Those four officers didn’t care. They didn’t ask what was happening, what was the situation.”
“How’s he going to jump the fence when he can barely walk?” she said.
In the week since Victor was shot, community members have held protests calling for police accountability and a candlelight vigil outside the Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello to mourn the teenage boy. More than 5,500 people have also signed a Change.org petition calling for an independent investigation into the shooting as of Monday afternoon.
Pocatello Police Chief Roger Schei said at a news conference that the officers gave “repeated commands” to Victor to drop the knife. He said the teen didn’t comply, stood up, and advanced toward the officers “while still armed.”
“In situations like this, officers must make decisions in seconds, they assess threats not just to themselves but to those nearby,” Schei said. “In this case, two individuals were within a few feet of an armed noncompliant individual. The risk was immediate, and the situation rapidly evolving.”
Prosecutor to decide whether to release officers’ names
Per the city’s policy, all of the officers, who haven’t been identified, were placed on administrative leave immediately after the shooting, Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad said in a statement.
It’s unclear how long the officers will remain on leave. The Pocatello Police Department didn’t respond to several phone calls or an email seeking clarity.
The Bannock County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting as part of the Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Task Force. Police are also conducting an internal investigation, Schei said.
For many law enforcement agencies in Idaho, police shootings are investigated through a Critical Incident Task Force, or CITF. In East Idaho, over a dozen counties are involved in the task force, and when one agency is involved in a shooting, another agency is asked to step in and investigate the incident.
Once the investigation is complete, it will be handed over to an outside prosecutor to review the findings and decide whether the officers should face criminal charges. A prosecutor hasn’t been assigned yet, Emma Iannacone, a spokesperson for the county, told the Statesman.
Iannacone said it would be up to the prosecutor to release the officers’ names. Body-camera footage is expected to be released in the coming weeks, Blad said.
It’s rare for officers to be criminally charged following a shooting. In the last 20 years, only two law enforcement officers in Idaho — Idaho Falls Police Department Officer Elias Cerdas and Nez Perce Tribal Officer Robert Wall — faced criminal charges. Both cases were eventually dismissed.
Blad said the city’s addressing the incident “with the seriousness and thoroughness it deserves.”
“We truly recognize the difficulty and pain of this situation,” Blad said. “Everyone is looking for answers, including me and the City Council. That is why it is important to let the Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Task Force and others complete their investigations.”
“Once the investigations are complete, we will act in accordance with the findings. No determinations will be made until the independent investigators have done their job,” he added.
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